ELLIS ZORRO SEES his upcoming fight with Dec Spelman as the perfect measure of his cruiserweight credentials at a higher level.
Boxxer tournament winner Zorro makes his Queensberry debut against Spelman at York Hall on September 16.
Although Spelman recently moved up from light heavyweight, the Scunthorpe man possesses a solid pedigree and will be looking to further his own career in the cruiserweight of the night, rather than provide a springboard for a championship contender.
For his part, Zorro believes that Spelman is his next step and that the quality of the opponent vindicates his move to team up with Frank Warren after his success in the competition in Manchester took him to 14-0 as a pro.
“This is the direction I want to go,” the 29-year-old said. “I was pleased that Martin (trainer and manager, Bowers) and Frank decided to put me up against such an opponent, rather than give me an easy, cozy fight.
“After this one, I will look to move towards the titles as soon as possible, that’s where I’m going.
“You can have a tough international opponent and not get any credit for winning, but with this one I will get the credit. We know who he has fought, we know what he has done, how he has conducted himself in those fights, so I think it will be a test for me. and a good fight.”
Zorro isn’t reading too much into Spelman’s jump up the weight class, particularly as he hasn’t fought at 175 pounds since his Commonwealth title match with Lyndon Arthur in July 2020. Spelman subsequently faced Anthony Yarde. weighing in at 180 pounds before two 200-pound fights.
“I saw an interview with him after the Arthur fight where he said he was exhausted by the weight. He’s not going to be exhausted now, but it’s a big jump, even though I’m not a massive cruiserweight. I don’t. I don’t know how tall he is. , maybe 5ft 10″, while I’m 6ft 1”.
“This will be his second or third fight at weight now, so we’ll see. Other than his style, being a pressure fighter who shows up, I’m not going to take too much from his fights at light heavyweight.
“He’s fought (Shakan) Pitters and had issues with Yarde and Arthur. He’s a good fighter and I think he’s going to come and try to push me back, put pressure on me, but I’m ready for it.”
“I’m looking forward to it and stylistically it’s going to be a good fight. Dec is going to try and drag me into ‘deep water’ and he knows he doesn’t have much of a chance if he tries to stand outside and box me.
“So I think he’ll pick up the pace, try to stay on my chest, for the fans to have a good fight, which is what I need, being on TV and on a Frank Warren show. I need to be in an interesting fight.” .
